Since independence in 1948, Burma has suffered from many internal conflicts. One of the most long-standing of these has been in the Kachin State, in the far north of the country where Burma has borders with India to the west and China to the east. In Being and Becoming Kachin Mandy Sadan explores the origins of the conflict that started in 1961 and why it has continued for so long.
Being and Becoming Kachin takes a much longer view of the problems that have led to such severe divisions between the political heartland of Burma and one of its most important 'peripheries' than is usually the...

In June 2011 fighting resumed between the Kachin Independence Organisation and Myanmar Army, ending a 17-year ceasefire. The unwillingness of local Kachin people and their leaders to agree to a speedy renewal of the ceasefire has frustrated many observers and policy-makers hoping for a national ceasefire agreement between the Myanmar government and principal armed ethnic organizations. Yet since the ceasefire collapsed, surprisingly little attention has been paid to understanding the Kachin experience of the ceasefire. This book brings together local activists with international academics and...